3be IRatfonal IRurservman. 
FOR GROWERS AND DEALERS IN NURSERY STOCK 
Copyrighted 1909 by the National Nurseryman Publishing Co., Incorporated. 
Vol. XVII. ROCHESTER, N. Y., MAY, 1909 No. 5 
AN ENTERPRISING NEBRASKA FIRM 
The Arlington Nurseries and Fruit Farm 
PROPRIETORS, MARSHALL BROTHERS, OF ARLINGTON, NEB. 
Time was when it was thought that all the region west of 
the Iowa part of the Missouri River and stretching to the 
Rocky Mountains was simply a contribution to that terri¬ 
tory known as the Great American Desert. But so much 
new light, the outgrowth of experience and accomplishment 
has been shed upon the resources and possibilities of this 
country in the last quar¬ 
ter of a century, that the 
term has long since not 
only been recognized as 
absolutely inappropriate 
but the real wonder is 
how it ever came to be 
applied! While the 
wheat farmer, the corn 
grower and the cattle 
rancher has each had a 
part in enlightening the 
public in regard to the 
resources of the country 
and aiding in the re¬ 
moval of the popular 
misconception, yet no 
one has contributed more pointed and suggestive informa¬ 
tion, no one has furnished more striking object lessons in 
relation to the possibilities and adaptations of soil and 
climate than has the grower of fruits and ornamentals. 
The nurserymen of the now middle west represent up to 
date ideals. At each meeting of the American Associa¬ 
tion these men from the upper Mississippi and Missouri 
Valleys are marked as men of ability and enterprise. 
The subject of this sketch is the enterprise built up by 
Marshall Brothers of Arlington, Nebraska. These men are 
the products of Nebraska conditions. They grew up, and 
with the country. For while they were not born in the 
section in which they now live they were middle westerners 
in the days when the Mississippi was western boundary and 
arrived in Nebraska as youngsters havingthus secured their 
training, their life experience and their outlook in the 
environment of their present nursery enterprise. 
The firm consists of C. C., George A., Harvey W. and 
A. C. Marshall. They were born in Ohio, but as already 
intimated arrived on the present scene early in their life 
history. The father engaged in the type of farming char¬ 
acteristic of that country in the early 80’s, at the time when 
corn and hogs, with some wheat, were the prevailing crops. 
The nursery business though a feature which was established 
only a little over twenty years ago, is one which has grown 
with rapidity and at the 
same time with that 
substantial quality so 
desirable, under the di¬ 
recting influence of the 
second generation. 
The primary organi¬ 
zation was effected by C. 
C. and G. A. Marshall in 
the spring of 1887. The 
merest beginning was 
made at this time. Two 
or three years later, 
H. W. Marshall, another 
brother, was taken into 
the firm, and very re¬ 
cently A. C. Marshall, a 
younger brother was included. Of late years, the senior 
member, C. C. Marshall, has been gradually withdrawing 
his active participation in the business while retaining a 
financial interest. 
Under Nebraska soil conditions, the grower can with a 
proper knowledge of climatic peculiarities grow great crops 
of trees in a single season. It is largely a question of con¬ 
servation of soil moisture. The rich prairie lands contain 
abundant available and potential plant food which only needs 
a regular supply of moisture to make available for the pro¬ 
duction of vigorous plant growth. Modern methods 
of soil management have taught growers how to 
secure the maximum returns from the natural rainfall 
of the country. No one has studied this more care¬ 
fully than the. nurseryman. The Marshall Brothers 
understand its principles thoroughly. They are stu¬ 
dents as well as operators, and the stock they grow, 
marketed in wholesale as well as retail quantities, is con¬ 
vincing evidence of their skill as tillers of the soil. 
Coniforous section of the nursery. 
